They say it will take 15 to 20 years to build it: The temple to their new God.
They will start by building a power plant: a 300 megawatt1 LNG and natural gas powered turbine combined with wind generators. They will pour the labyrinthine concrete structure to house the trillions of silicon GPU's. They will lay the pipes to leach in the millions of liters of water they will need on a daily basis to cool the infrastructure. They will cut a trench for a new fiber optic cable to Terrace from a submarine dark fiber, off the coast at Prince Rupert to ensure that they are safe from the wrath of the beavers, who have knocked out the single fiber trunk that supplies the north west of BC twice in the last 4 years. They say that they will do all of this within the next 5 to 7 years.
One wonders if there will be enough time before the magic intelligence in the sky forms as the Artificial Super Intelligence is born from the sphincter of the great singularity2, or will we all be consumed by the burgeoning rage of the basilisk3?
Seriously though, the reality is that the AI bubble will burst within the next 2 years (most likely) and the massive profits that were projected will peter out and take a post coital nap within 5. Companies, who up to this point have been charmed by the wet dream of an employee-less existence and unlimited free computing, start to see the stark reality that it actually costs money to run that many "if" statements. There is no new God coming. There will be no singularity, just a ginormous compute bill that will come due very soon.
If Skeena Data Center does manage to get the 1.8 billion dollars it needs to fund this ridiculous industrial juggernaut, it will not be able to pay it off. Well...not for a century or so. Its entire income plan is based on the dream continuing and that dream, my friends, is over.
So here are 5 suggestions for uses after the project is abandoned and all of the copper wire has been looted:
- A roller rink. Lets bring them back! Whats more fun than skating around a big circle with your friends while edgy pop pounds out of massive speakers.
- A giant mushroom farm. You could grow a lot of mushrooms in there. Like a lot a lot!
- Paint ball arena. Capture the flag and shoot yer friends!
- Housing, you know you could practically start a new city in there.
- Ah hell, why not just let it turn into ruins, like the amusement park they build on top of the hot springs, then we'll have a matching set.
